11 Guam Code Ann. § 127115
Terms Used In 11 Guam Code Ann. § 127115
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. Source: OCC
- Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
(1) Apparent owner means the person who appears from the records of the holder to be entitled to property held by the holder.
(2) Banking organization means any national or state bank, trust company, banking company, land bank, savings bank, safe- deposit company, private banker, or any similar organization.
(3) Business association means any private corporation, joint stock company, business trust, partnership, or any association for business purposes of two (2) or more individuals, whether or not for profit, including, but not by way of limitation, a banking organization, financial organization, life insurance corporation, and utility.
(4) Holder means any person in possession of property subject to this Section belonging to another, or who is trustee in case of a trust, or is indebted to another on an obligation subject to this Section.
(5) Owner means a depositor in case of a deposit, a beneficiary in case of a trust, or creditor, claimant, or payee in case of other choices in action, or any person having a legal or equitable interest in property subject to this Section, or his or her legal representative.
(6) Person means any individual, business association, government or governmental subdivision or agency, two (2) or more persons having a joint or common interest, or any other legal or
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commercial entity, whether that person is acting in his or her own right or in a representative or fiduciary capacity.
(b) Any dividend, profit, distribution, interest, payment on principal, or other sum held or owing by a business association for or to its shareholder, certificate holder, member, bondholder, or other security holder, or a participating patron of a cooperative, where there has been no owner-generated activity on the account or property or written communication from the owner of the property, within three (3) years after the date prescribed for payment or delivery, shall transfer to the Treasurer of Guam.
(c) Any intangible interest in a business association, as evidenced by the stock records or membership records of the association, shall transfer to the Treasurer of Guam if:
(1) the interest in the association is owned by a person who for more than three (3) years has neither claimed a dividend or other sum referred to in Subsection (b) nor corresponded in writing with the association or otherwise indicated an interest as evidenced by a memorandum or other record on file with the association; and
(2) the association does not know the location of the owner at the end of the three (3)-year period. With respect to the interest, the business association shall be deemed the holder.
(d) Any dividends or other distributions held for or owing to a person at the time the stock or other security to which they attach shall transfer to the Treasurer of Guam and shall escheat to the Treasurer of Guam at the same time.
(e) If the business association has in its records an address for the apparent owner, which the business association’s records do not disclose to be inaccurate, with respect to any interest that may transfer pursuant to Subsection (b), the business association shall make reasonable efforts to notify the owner by mail or, if the owner has consented to electronic notice, electronically, that the owner’s interest in the business association will transfer and escheat to the Treasurer of Guam.
(1) The notice shall be given not less than six (6) or more than twelve (12) months before the time the interest in the business association becomes reportable to the Department of Administration in accordance with this Section.
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(2) The notice required by this Section shall specify the time that the interest will transfer and escheat, and the effects of transfer and escheat, including the necessity for filing a claim for the return of the interest.
(3) The notice required by this Section shall:
(A) specify that since the date of last activity, or for the last three (3) years, there has been no owner activity on the deposit, account, shares, or other interest;
(B) identify the deposit, account, shares, or other interest by number or identifier, which need not exceed four (4) digits;
(C) indicate that the deposit, account, shares, or other interest is in danger of transferring and escheating to the Treasurer of Guam; and
(D) specify that the Unclaimed Property Law requires business associations to transfer funds of a deposit, account, shares, or other interest if it has been inactive for three (3) years.
(4) It shall also include a form, as prescribed by the Department of Administration, by which the owner may confirm the owner’s current address. If that form is filled out, signed by the owner, and returned to the holder, it shall be deemed that the business association knows the location of the owner. In lieu of returning the form, the business association may provide a telephone number or other electronic means to enable the owner to contact the association. With that contact, as evidenced by a memorandum or other record on file with the business association, the business association shall be deemed to know the location of the owner.
(5) The business association may impose a service charge on the deposit, account, shares, or other interest for this notice and form in an amount not to exceed the administrative cost of mailing or electronically sending the notice and form, and in no case to exceed Two Dollars ($2.00).
(f) In addition to the notice required pursuant to Subsection (e), the holder may give additional notice at any time between the dates of last activity by, or communication with, the owner and the date the
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holder transfers the deposit, shares, or other interest to the Treasurer of
Guam.
(g) All funds transferred to the Treasurer of Guam pursuant to the provisions of this Section shall escheat to the government of Guam one (1) year subsequent to the date such transfers occurred.
(h) The Treasurer of Guam, upon receiving sums of money pursuant to this Section, shall furnish the transferring association with a receipt for such sums transferred, and sums of money shall be deposited in the Housing Trust Fund established in Article 10 of Chapter 4, Title
12, Guam Code Annotated. Such funds shall be used in accordance with the provisions of the Guam Housing Corporation‘s establishment of a
pilot Housing First program.
SOURCE: Added by P.L. 33-231:3 (Jan. 9, 2017).
2017 NOTE: Subitem designations altered pursuant to the authority of 1 Guam Code Ann. § 1606.